Total is confident. Its timetable for gas exploitation in the north of Mozambique, from mid-2024, should be respected despite the uncertainties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Islamist attacks in the region.
A $ 25 billion project
However, despite reassuring comments Friday from Ronan Bescond, General Manager of Total for Mozambique, things are far from simple. Construction on this $ 25 billion mega gas project was halted for about two months following the discovery of numerous Covid-19 cases at the site. “The first case (…) on the site was registered on April 1 and a total of 96 workers contracted the disease. Among them, 92 are cured and four are still being treated, "said Ronan Bescond. According to him, Total intends to resume normal activity on the site by September.
The project is the first land development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Mozambique, where large underwater reserves were discovered in the early 2000s. The project is located in the prey of Cabo Delgado province since 2017 to an Islamist insurgency, which has killed at least 1,100, according to a count of the NGO Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), and caused the displacement of more than 210,000 people, according to the United Nations.
Security in question
“With regard to security, this is a situation that worries us but it does not directly affect society. We are working with the government to ensure the safety of the site and people, "said Ronan Bescond, visiting Palma (north). "This is a very important project and the government is doing everything to ensure its success", assured him the Mozambican Minister of Natural Resources, Ernesto Max Tonela, who had also made the trip.
Estimated at 5,000 billion m3, the vast underwater gas reserves discovered off the coast of Mozambique must transform one of the poorest countries on the planet into a leading exporter of liquefied natural gas. The American ExxonMobil and the Italian ENI are also in the running to exploit these natural riches.
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